for the second part of my photo journey, i thought about focusing on simplicity at home. we all want a peaceful, cozy, friendly, welcoming home. and, if you’re like me, you want your home to be a sanctuary as well. a place that reflects creativity and inspires. a place where everything has a meaning and everything has it’s purpose and place.
i must admit, i’m a sucker for interior design blogs/websites and photos. there are a few blogs that i follow purely because they share amazing photos of inspiring homes. like this one. and i also pin photos of rooms and designs to pinterest. click here to see what inspires me. i’m a mess of contradictions. i love clean, simple, white, black, & gray. at the same time, i love funky, quirky, second-hand, vintage, and warm. my love is exactly the same… lucky for us, huh? somehow, though, we always seem to work out a good balance, even thought our tastes may seem all over the place.
as we prepare to move into our new dream apartment in asheville, we have begun planning what we want our home to feel like. how we want it to look, yes. but also what we want the vibe to be. we want it to be all the things i mentioned above: clean, simple, warm, and a bit funky. so, as we look at websites for new furniture, and pack up very important things that we want to take with us, we realize over & over again, that it isn’t at all about the stuff. sure we love the stuff. we love cool & clean & funky design. but, the meaning behind it, the purpose of it all, whether it is old or new, is what’s most important. so, i’m working hard to keep all in mind.
i’m working hard to remember to make my new home, a simple, loving environment. where moments are filled with laughter and coziness. where we rejoice and enjoy the simple things… quiet mornings on the balcony. dinners around the table with friends. game nights. nights reading in bed. cooking & baking together. rooms filled with music & art.
ultimately my only dream is to make my house a home. it’s that simple.
here are some of the last photos of my home here in sweden… we’ll be moving out of this apartment in about a week or 2. mixed feelings. yeah. it’s been a great, great, great home. take a look at my simplicity journey for the past 5 days:
day 6: corner – my favorite spot to hang out by myself in the mornings. sipping coffee. reading. writing.
7: bowl – my favorite bowl. lovingly made by my creative sister-in-law potter, who i’m gonna live near very soon!
day 8: family – in the midst of some chaos at home this weekend, we found ourselves in the hall at one point & decided it was time for a silly, crazy family portrait. my family is everything to me.
9. table – with the apartment in disarray, i sat down for a moment with my mac on the only empty table to catch up on some blogs and find some inspiration.
10: DIY – check out my love DIY-ing it like a boss. yeah.
I know what you mean about the whites, Liz- so clean & large feeling? Except…also a bit too cold & colourless. Also very hard to keep neat.
I’m more the warm tones, the “cozy” side of things. And like you, I love pouring over design books & mags (my fav was Architectural Digest). I also have a background of renovation- from screening in front porches, building closets, & gutting bathrooms in FL to planning store expansions (including renting & running a floor drum sander), building fireplaces, and planning/adding on a large kitchen in upstate NY. It does help to do your “visual homework” so that you have a clear idea of your likes. It makes it easy to put together a cozy & inviting abode.
I look forward to seeing the pics of your new digs- before & after? 🙂
I think I only like whites for walls and some furniture (NOT sofas!). But clean & warm, they can work together. I need warm. I don’t want my home to look sterile. Wow. I am not a DIY kinda girl, but in impressed by you!
Of course there will be pics!! B & A! 🙂
I’m in between decorating at the moment. I don’t have any idea where I’ll end up living or what that space will look like.
I know it won’t have white couches. Those were my ex’s trademark. So no white couches. 😉
It’s fun to look through your pins!
I’m with you on the whole white couches thing. I’m a spiller. 😉 Never gonna happen. Hehe. We have chosen a darker gray for our sofa, white walls, and a black/white graphic design rug. For other living room furniture it’ll be a mixture of steel/industrial and wood. That’s all I know at this point. 🙂 What kind of style do you like? How would you define it?! (I love getting to know people!).
I’m in the midst of a huge change right now. I keep meaning to post about this. (Of course, the new blog’s been going for a week and a half, so I’m not really lagging.)
My furnishings tend towards Scandanavian, actually. Mid-century modern with lots of wood and clean lines. But they also tend to be other parts of the world as well. (I have an Indian day bed, a round coffee table from Thailand.) I don’t have much at this point, and what I have is in storage in LA. So, like you two, I get to spend some time seeing what fits me now and redefining.
I’m currently feeling a bit dissaray but design inspired! We had our lodger move out last week, and have now got a spare room, which was desperately needed! We’re now in the process of making this room what we need it to be (guest room, office, dressing room and space…) – packing in a lot, but hope to make it a very nice space. And I understand the contradictions, I love love love the idea of minimalism and clean, but then love all the cutesy bits and pieces to – these two things don’t really go hand in hand?
Anyway, good luck! I cannot WAIT to get my little spare space set!
Oh, it’s so much fun to design a new space! We have a spare room in our new apartment, and we can’t seem to get the design to sync. We have so many different ideas. And I can’t really visualize it well. It’s gonna mainly be a studio(we like the word studio. office sounds too stuffy & manly & not as creative), but can double as a guest room when needed thanks to the wonders of futons. I’m sure it’ll come together, but right now it’s a mystery.
Good luck getting your room all set up! And have fun doing it!! Pics maybe? 😉
Hi Liz,
Try this site out:
http://www.exhibitcore.net/e_manager/floorplanner/ExhibitCorePlanner.aspx
Free to use/join & pretty intuitive. Just for fun, I tossed up some walls & then used the “3D” button to do a fly-over & walk-through:
http://oi44.tinypic.com/dzxp29.jpg
Now, I’m not bragging on that one- lol…But, it might be a way for you to “move” furniture around without the back-breaking? You can measure your stuff & adjust the pieces on the plan to fit.